There's a lot of noise around "green" or "sustainable" best-practices. We approach each client's unique interaction with climate, energy and environmental risks and opportunities as part of a disciplined risk management framework. This has always been a common denominator for how businesses succeed, how markets define value, and how governments plan for the future. At the end of the day, the language of risk management is a time-tested way of reducing complexity and uncertainty into actionable solutions – whether in the context of an organization’s strategic direction or operations, the success of a major program or project, the priorities of an effective government, or how NGOs and the global community frame the agenda for a sustainable future.

+ risk , our advisory network...

How do you know the "sustainability movement" is a powerful global transformation that reaches across nearly every sector of the economy and society?

Because it's being shaped on the ground - in practice - by an increasingly diverse professional community - from green building consultants and the broader architecture, engineering and planning communities, to a host of energy & environmental services firms, sustainable supply chain and green product advisors, specialized sustainability strategy, research and marketing firms, and sustainability teams at the largest global consulting, financial services, and law firms. Sustainability, like risk, is everywhere.

We're developing + risk as our network of strategic partnerships with all brands of sustainability professionals and service companies that recognize the opportunity to integrate risk management as part of how they deliver clearer and more valuable client solutions.

Stephen Bushnell is a highly experienced insurance and risk management professional with more than 40 years of underwriting, marketing, product development, management and leadership experience at various property & casualty insurers - most recently as Senior Director for Commercial Insurance at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company (part of the Allianz Group).

Steve is widely recognized as a risk-focused expert on green buildings, sustainable manufacturing and operations, and the broader business, economic and risk management implications of climate, energy and other sustainability challenges.

Our work with business & industry clients spans the real estate & hospitality, manufacturing, retail, health care and energy sectors – and is supported by our capabilities working with financial services and capital markets to create enterprise risk management, lending, rating and valuation/appraisal solutions that respond to sector-specific sustainability dynamics.

In the public and nonprofit sectors, we work to: align government programs and policy frameworks with risk management strategies that can guide communities, businesses and the economy through unprecedented climate, energy and environmental challenges; help academic institutions integrate a risk-based approach to sustainability across their organizations – from facilities and operations, to world-class R&D and commercialization centers; and help NGOs leverage a risk manager’s perspective in order to connect their sustainability-related missions and programs with key stakeholders.

Sustainability Strategy

Strategy:

We help organizations design and implement sustainability strategies and programs that deliver real, measurable value. Applying the same systems approach that defines enterprise risk management, we help our clients zero in on the most relevant sustainability risks and opportunities, translated into the metrics of their existing strategic, operational, and financial plans.

Implementation:

To help turn this insight into action, we actively guide our clients through change management, organizational development & capacity building, employee engagement and cross-functional program implementation.

Communications & Stakeholder Engagement:

We advise clients on how to communicate their sustainability strategies and performance to external audiences - from NGOs and regulators, to shareholders and customers - in a way that creates useful feedback and avoids growing liabilities associated with "greenwash."

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)

Our sophisticated ERM framework and toolkit helps clients identify, assess, monitor and either mitigate or exploit the entire landscape of strategic, operational, financial and physical risks and opportunities that could have a material impact on their organization's assets, mission and objectives.

Sustainability is no exception. In fact, we believe that ERM best-practices provide the most practical way for our clients to respond to sustainability mega-trends like the physical impacts of climate change, or the future of energy in terms of reliability, price volatility and rapid innovation in supply and demand -side technologies.

In particular, we're widely recognized as a leader in merging sustainability metrics for buildings, operations and supply chains with insight into the risk profiles of associated technologies and practices. This allows us to help clients capture risk-adjusted returns on their sustainability investments, while approaching sustainable facilities, operations and supply chain considerations as components of broader framework for Enterprise Risk Management that prioritizes related strategies for physical risk mitigation, asset resiliency, business continuity and disaster planning, etc.

Drawing on our experience developing insurance solutions for green buildings and sustainable manufacturing, we can also help our clients identify the right capital market and risk management products and services to support and protect their investment in sustainable facilities and operations.

Product & Service Solutions

For Insurers and Agents/Brokers:

Particularly (but not exclusively) in response to commercial P&C clients' energy, environment another sustainability-related demands, we have extensive experience in all aspects of developing and managing customized insurance and risk solutions - from underlying market research and product/service architecture, to underwriting, marketing, claims management, etc.

On 5/7/17, Stephen Bushnell was a featured guest at the California Straw Building Association (CASBA) Spring Conference. Steve presented insurance underwriting and risk management considerations to the nonprofit's members, including designers, contractors, owners, builders, and other stakeholders. Since 1996, CASBA has served as a clearinghouse for information and as a network of resources, working with its members to develop testing and to improve techniques and standards for building with straw, in order to gain its acceptance by municipalities, officials, lenders, and insurance companies throughout California. There are now many fine examples of permitted straw bale homes throughout the state, as well as a number of commercial buildings, that stand as a testament to this pioneering work. Learn more at www.strawbuildings.org

Steve Bushnell to lead Sustainable Disaster Response Council

Stephen Bushnell will serve as President of the newly formed Sustainable Disaster Response Council (SDRC). SDRC promotes sustainability in disaster response and property restoration - helping american homes, businesses and communities turn every loss into smart investments in a stronger, safer, healthier and environmentally responsible future.

Steven Bushnell led a course entitled "Green Buildings and Sustainable Risk Management" hosted by Insurance Community University (ICU), a leading provider of online interactive insurance webinars approved for Continuing Education (CE) credits in more than 20 states. Over the next year, Stephen Bushnell + Associates will expand its education services targeting both the insurance industry, and professionals in sectors like real estate and manufacturing where green risk management is a growing priority. Registration is now open for the Sustainability Risk Management™ (SRM) Certificate - a comprehensive four week online course that is expected to offer CA-approved CE credits for the first time in March.

Stephen Bushnell joins USGBC Advisory Council

Stephen Bushnell has transitioned from the USGBC Board of Directors to the newly formed Advisory Council, effective January 1, 2016. The Advisory Council provides the visionary industry leadership and perspectives that have built USGBC’s authenticity, credibility and relevance. As USGBC’s highest-level customer engagement platform, the Advisory Council recommends policy and initiatives to the Board. “By having both a Board of Directors and an Advisory Council, we increase our ability to meet the challenges of a complex business environment,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “The individuals on our new board bring a unique perspective and unparalleled industry expertise that will allow us to navigate the changing global business landscape. And our Advisory Council members will provide deep market knowledge and technical expertise that will help us continue to lead the green building industry.” More details are available here.

Stephen Bushnell + Associates announces plans to introduce a version of it's SRM Certificate that is expected to be approved for continuing education (CE) credit by the California Department of Insurance, followed by CE approval in other states. Earlier this year, Stephen Bushnell + Associates partnered with Poplar Network to develop the Sustainability Risk Management™ (SRM) Certificate - a comprehensive four week online course that provides a framework and strategy for identifying, evaluating and mitigating the challenges arising at the intersection of risk and sustainability. Poplar Network and its sister platform Green-Buildings.com is a leading network for professionals who work on green building projects, and is committed to providing the highest quality sustainability education, programs, courses and information to meet the evolving building design and construction industry.

Speaking at the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) AAIS Main Event conference in Santa Barbara, Calif. Steve Bushnell co-led a Commercial Lines roundtable focused on insurance product management. The AAIS Main Event is a highly regarded executive conference attended by senior executives and department heads of primary property/casualty companies, plus representatives of reinsurers, software vendors, and other service providers who help primary insurers support their product lines. Details on Steve's presentation can be found here.

Stephen Bushnell speaks at AIA-SF Committee on the Environment event, hosted by Gensler

Speaking to an audience of architects, engineers, designers, builders, investors, realtors, ecologists and other stakeholders convened by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Stephen Bushnell spoke on key issues and best-practices related to resilience and climate change. The topic is an increasingly important one for the Architecture, Engineering and Design community. At the end of last year, AIA issued its revised revised position statements on environmental responsibility—guiding declarations that help clarify which programs, activities, and government policies the AIA will support—reiterate the long-acknowledged importance of responsible stewardship of the Earth and carbon neutrality by 2030 while also adding a new statement on Resilience: "Buildings and communities are subjected to destructive forces from fire, storms, earthquakes, flooding, and even intentional attack. The challenges facing the built environment are evolving with climate change, environmental degradation, and population growth. Architects have a responsibility to design a resilient environment that can more successfully adapt to natural conditions and that can more readily absorb and recover from adverse events. The AIA supports policies, programs, and practices that promote adaptable and resilient buildings and communities."

Stephen Bushnell + Associates participates in R!SE U.S Launch

Stephen Bushnell joined the U.S. Launch of R!SE, a global initiative launched in 2014 by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) to make investments disaster-risk sensitive and increase society's resiliency. R!SE is a new way of collaborating, on a global scale, to unlock the potential for public and private sector leadership on disaster risk reduction. Details are available at www.theriseinitiative.org. Steve Bushnell has long advocated for resiliency planning at the asset (property) and community levels - for example, guiding related efforts at the U.S Green Building Council where he is a board member, and participating in a Resilient Cities forum convened by Ceres, ClimateWise and ICLEI to engage the insurance sector, infrastructure providers, commercial property owners and investors and city and state authorities.

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